Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited English Proficiency

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, and to improve access to federally conducted and federally assisted programs and activities for
persons who, as a result of national origin, are limited in their English proficiency (LEP), it is
hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Goals.

The Federal Government provides and funds an array of services that can be made accessible to otherwise
eligible persons who are not proficient in the English language. The Federal Government is committed to
improving the accessibility of these services to eligible LEP persons, a goal that reinforces its
equally important commitment to promoting programs and activities designed to help individuals learn English.
To this end, each Federal agency shall examine the services it provides and develop and implement a system
by which LEP persons can meaningfully access those services consistent with, and without unduly burdening,
the fundamental mission of the agency. Each Federal agency shall also work to ensure that recipients of
Federal financial assistance (recipients) provide meaningful access to their LEP applicants and
beneficiaries. To assist the agencies with this endeavor, the Department of Justice has today issued a
general guidance document (LEP Guidance), which sets forth the compliance standards that recipients must
follow to ensure that the programs and activities they normally provide in English are accessible to LEP
persons and thus do not discriminate on the basis of national origin in violation of title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and its implementing regulations. As described in the LEP Guidance,
recipients must take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs and activities by
LEP persons.

Section 2. Federally Conducted Programs and Activities.

Each Federal agency shall prepare a plan to improve access to its federally conducted programs and
activities by eligible LEP persons. Each plan shall be consistent with the standards set forth in the LEP
Guidance, and shall include the steps the agency will take to ensure that eligible LEP persons can
meaningfully access the agency's programs and activities. Agencies shall develop and begin to
implement these plans within 120 days of the date of this order, and shall send copies of their plans to the
Department of Justice, which shall serve as the central repository of the agencies' plans.

Section 3. Federally Assisted Programs and Activities.

Each agency providing Federal financial assistance shall draft title VI guidance specifically tailored to
its recipients that is consistent with the LEP Guidance issued by the Department of Justice. This agency-
specific guidance shall detail how the general standards established in the LEP Guidance will be
applied to the agency's recipients. The agency-specific guidance shall take into account the types of services
provided by the recipients, the individuals served by the recipients, and other factors set out in the LEP
Guidance. Agencies that already have developed title VI guidance that the Department of Justice determines is
consistent with the LEP Guidance shall examine their existing guidance, as well as their programs and
activities, to determine if additional guidance is necessary to comply with this order. The Department of
Justice shall consult with the agencies in creating their guidance and, within 120 days of the date of this
order,

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each agency shall submit its specific guidance to the Department of Justice for review and approval.
Following approval by the Department of Justice, each agency shall publish its guidance document in the
Federal Register for public comment.

Section 4. Consultations.

In carrying out this order, agencies shall ensure that stakeholders, such as LEP persons and their
representative organizations, recipients, and other appropriate individuals or entities, have an adequate
opportunity to provide input. Agencies will evaluate the particular needs of the LEP persons they and their
recipients serve and the burdens of compliance on the agency and its recipients. This input from stakeholders
will assist the agencies in developing an approach to ensuring meaningful access by LEP persons that is
practical and effective, fiscally responsible, responsive to the particular circumstances of each
agency, and can be readily implemented.

Section 5. Judicial Review.

This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the executive branch and does not create
any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party against the
United States, its agencies, its officers or employees, or any person.